JA Solar raises shipment guidance for Q4 and full year

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JASO

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4:07PM EDT

Adding to the number of China-based PV manufacturers pre-announcing, JA Solar said that it would exceed module shipment guidance for the fourth quarter and full-year 2011. Shipments for the fourth quarter are expected to be in the range of 390MW to 410MW, compared to previous guidance of between 310MW to 330MW.

As a consequence, full-year shipments are expected to higher than previously guided levels of 1.6GW. JA Solar said shipments would be in the range of 1.68GW to 1.70GW.

According to Jeffries analyst, Jesse Pichel in an investor note the increased shipment guidance was put down an 80MW increase coming mostly from projects in the US and China. However, the analyst expects further margin pressure and write-downs, inline with announcements already made by key competitors.

The company doesn’t expect to release full financial results until mid- to late March.

Now that the PV industry has unquestionably entered a new growth phase, all eyes are on which technologies will win through into the mainstream of PV manufacturing. PERC, n-type, p-type bifacial, heterojunction – all have become familiar terms in the ever-growing constellation of solar cell technologies. The question is which will offer manufacturers what they are looking for in improving efficiencies and cutting costs.

Although the past few years have proved extremely testing for PV equipment manufacturers, falling module prices have driven solar end-market demand to previously unseen levels. That demand is now starting to be felt by manufacturers, to the extent that leading companies are starting to talk about serious capacity expansions later this year and into 2015. This means that the next 12 months will be a critical period if companies throughout the supply chain are to take full advantage of the PV industry’s next growth phase.